


That’s What Friends Are For

by tielan



Series: Fire And Ice: MCU Jaeger AU [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama, F/M, Friendship, HYDRA are not nice, In Vino Veritas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 16:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/pseuds/tielan
Summary: Pepper doesn't like Steve Rogers much.





	That’s What Friends Are For

**Author's Note:**

> For the [Trope Bingo Amnesty 2019](https://tielan.dreamwidth.org/1172262.html): "In Vino Veritas/Drunk Fic".

Pepper has always rather liked the energy in a Shatterdome. Everyone with a concrete goal to work towards, with a stake in the outcome. It’s a very different thing in business – most employees want the paycheck, but they don’t particularly care about the aims of the company – or, more correctly, the board of directors.

Over the last five years, she’s managed to change the tenor of Stark Industries, fuelled by the war against the _kaiju_ and the SI technology that’s become an integral part of both the Jaeger program and the PPDC cleanup system. Still, there’s only so much enthusiasm that can be generated when one works in an office day after week after month after year for a paycheck that’s fair but not spectacular.

In the Hong Kong Shatterdome, everyone’s busy, everyone’s focused, there’s a mission, even if it feels like madness.

Maria smiles when Pepper expresses the thought to her as they sit up in an empty Conn-Pod gantry and watch the Shatterdome’s Operations taking place far, far below.

“It looks very different when it’s your everyday.”

“Maybe,” Pepper passes over the bottle of watered-down Shatterdome moonshine. “I still enjoy watching it.”

“It also looks different from this far up.” Maria sighs and takes a swig of moonshine, swallows it, exhales. “A lot less frantic, for starters.”

Pepper watches the other woman’s profile. “Have you ever thought about leaving the Jaeger program?”

“Are you headhunting me, Pepper?”

“Maybe testing the waters,” Pepper admits. “You’d be an asset to Stark Industries with your knowledge of the Jaeger program. Jason was impressed with what you’d done with what you got, and he’s a cynic.”

“I...don’t think I’m cut out for business.” Maria takes another swig. “Although a job that isn’t shiftwork and has a decent payscale would be a welcome change. I’m not exactly filling out my 401K with this job.”

“ _And_ it wouldn’t involve six days of shifts, plus unpaid overtime working on a high-stress project.”

“I was fine until the brawl on Sunday morning, you know.”

“Your definition of ‘fine’ does not match any known dictionary,” Pepper retorts. When she thinks about the state she found Maria in – exhausted, nauseous, barely able to stand up – it makes her furious with the PPDC for putting her under this pressure, the Shatterdome personnel who let her run herself into the ground, and Steve Rogers for existing and having broken Maria’s heart.

“ _I take back every nasty thought I’ve had about him,_ ” Rhodey said after the video came out, “ _And replace it with death by something worse._ ”

“ _Kaiju blue?_ ” Tony suggested. “ _Drift psychosis? Torn apart by over-enthusiastic fans? I could come up with a few more..._ ”

Pepper hasn’t dealt much with Steve Rogers; so she hasn’t had to be polite when what she’d really like to do is crack a hanbo over his head. That night on the Sydney headland, it might have been Maria’s grief, but she’d felt like _her_ heart was breaking as she listened to her friend weeping.

“So,” Maria hands back the bottle. “When do you fly back? Friday night or Saturday morning?”

“Saturday afternoon, I think.” Pepper looks over at her. “Ms. Hartley mentioned going out on Friday night, and from the way she phrased it, I guess I’m invited.”

“Of course you are.” Maria kicks her legs and looks exasperated. “There’s usually at least one group going out on Friday night – sometimes several.”

“And you’re not going back to work until...?”

“Monday, and I’m doing a half-workload.” A narrow-eyed gaze ensues. “Did you say something to the Marshal?”

Pepper sidesteps that question entirely. “I’m glad they’re easing back your workload. You don’t look after yourself enough.”

Low iron, high blood pressure, low blood sugar, hypertension... Dr. Ross said the wonder wasn’t that Maria had been managing the _Phoenix Fire_ project for the last three weeks, it was that Maria had been upright, conscious, and cogent at all.

Maria sighs. “Second verse, same as the first.”

“But I’m not an ‘Enery.” Pepper takes another swig of the moonshine and once she’s swallowed it, huffs fumes out into the still, cool air that’s all that’s between them and a 200-feet drop.

“We’ll go to the Boneslums,” Maria says after a moment, during which some jeering floats up from the Shatterdome floor, along with a whiff of furnace. “It’s an entirely new experience, and I think you’d enjoy it.”

Pepper grins. “As always, I look forward to it.”

* * *

The bright neon of Hong Kong’s signs are a vivid contrast to the giant ribcage of the _kaiju_ sticking out of the land that’s slowly being reclaimed by the locals.

What is _kaiju blue_ when there’s living to be done?

Still, as they approach the giant skeleton and the temple that’s been erected around it, Pepper discovers the reek of the slums can’t disguise the sharp, acrid scents of the kaiju incense and whatever peculiar starch they use on those horrendous headdresses. And that the mere smell of it makes her nauseous. Maria’s hand closes over hers and squeezes.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think how this would affect you— Hey, Diz, knock on the partition, let’s take a different—”

Pepper pulls her back before she can actually lean over and knock on the partition herself. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

“You’re white as a sheet.”

“Yes, but at least I’m not on my hands and knees retching in an elevator.”

Maria’s eyes widen then narrow. “That’s low.”

Pepper manages a smile, even though her stomach is turning. “I’ll get past it. So long as we’re not going inside—”

“Not bloody likely,” says the woman sitting opposite Pepper. She pulls a flask from her hip pocket. “Have a sip? It’ll get your mind off the _ju_ -holes, I promise.”

“By sterilising your tastebuds permanently,” Maria laughs. “Never trust an Australian when they tell you the punch isn’t spiked!”

“That was once,” retorts Hip Flask, dimpling heavily. “And you were less drunk than you made out.”

“I’ve already tried the moonshine. But thanks, anyway.” But Pepper carefully shifts her body so she’s no longer staring at the skeleton protuding from the ground, and starts up a conversation about this year’s crop of Jaegers – the long-awaited Mark IVs that were nearly not produced at all. The women join in enthusiastically, recogniseing the need for a distraction when it presents itself.

“The Jaeger program is becoming more expensive to operate,” Maria says. “Now that it’s business as usual and the shine of world peace has worn off, everyone’s raising their prices.”

“Except for Stark Industries,” notes the woman tucked up against the tailgate, her features sharp and a little hawkish, her eyes bright. Pepper thinks she was introduced as Alison before. “Why is that?”

Pepper could say a few things about price gouging, about shares, about shareholder expectations, about what she’s done to mitigate shareholder expectations. She’s tempted to point out that their share price isn’t what it was in the earliest days of the Jaeger program, back when Tony and Rhodey and Stark Industries were being hailed as the heroes of the _kaiju_ war... But she suspects most of these women don’t want to hear the long version of it – majority shareholders, proxy voters, and board politics – it’s a level of involvement that those working down at the coalface of the Jaeger program don’t care about – rich people concerns.

She settles for saying, “Maybe we’re undercutting the market?”

“So long as you’re not undercutting the technology like you did with _Scarlet Cypher_.”

“Cath—”

“No,” Pepper interrupts Maria’s frown. “We’re not. The technology that malfunctioned in _Scarlet Cypher_ came from Stark Industries, and we take responsibility for it. The process was corrupted, and we’ve put oversights in place to ensure that what happened before doesn’t happen again. We’ve also paid reparations to both Belova’s beneficiaries—”

“The Russkie government,” mutters Hip Flask.

“—and the Russian government directly, as well as Romanova herself.” Pepper went through the reports, page by page, staying up all hours, to work out what needed fixing. Money and remedial governance could buy a certain amount of corporate and organisational forgiveness – the PPDC had ended up keeping the Stark Industries contracts, although the following year they’d negotiated with other companies for part of the work – but it would never bring back the woman who’d died – Ranger Yelena Belova – or compensate Romanova for her pain and those lost four months.

There was no changing the past, Pepper knew. You could only try to do better the next time. In the meantime, you had to weather the consequences – such as being quizzed about corporate ties, and accused of everything from sabotage to paying people off. There was no winning in such a situation – only moving forward.

“Speaking of Romanova,” says Alison-the-hawkish. “I heard a small and gossipy tidbit about her and what she’s been doing up at Kodiak. Turns out she and Dartboard Barton are Drift compatible!”

“Whoa,” someone says. “Seriously?”

“My intel is reliable,” says Alison loftily.

“You mean the money in making book is reliable?” Maria gets a light kick in the ankle for that quip. The jolt as they drive over a road hump signalling entry into a pedestrian area makes it less effective than Alison probably would like. “I did get a call from Romanova after she met him; she wanted to know his backstory.”

“I’m guessing he came with a glowing reference, then – considering he and Romanoff are _also_ tearing up the sheets together.”

“I’d be worried if they were tearing up the sheets _apart_ ,” quips Hip Flask to much laughter. “So are they going to try for the next round of Mark IVs then?”

“I never bet on a sure thing,” Alison says loftily.

“No,” Maria snorts as they rumble on down the street. “You just collect book on it!”

“Ha!” Hip Flask looks at Pepper. “They say there are three inevitable things in a Shatterdome. Personal drama...”

“Unsanctioned grog,” says Alison, waggling the flask, before the rest of the truck bed chimes in.

“ _And the betting odds!_ ”

The laughter is contaigious, and Pepper grins and catches Maria’s sidewise smirk. Ju-heads or no, she’s glad she came out.

The truck they’re in rumbles to a halt at the edge of a crowd of people, and the passengers in the cabin start getting up. Pepper glances up, a little surprised. The _kaiju_ temple is far behind them down the road, and they’re in what looks like a nightlife district, bustling, busy, noisy, and bright.

Pepper climbs out of the truck bed and stretches to ease out the kinks from sitting curled up. When she stands up, Maria’s just hopping down. Pepper isn’t sure what prompts her to reach for the other woman’s arm, but she’s glad she does when Maria grabs the tailgate for balance.

“Are you sure you should be out, Mars?” The Australian frowns as she climbs out. “Jimmy can take you back if you need—”

Maria waves the woman away. “I’ll be fine, Diz. Pins and needles, that’s all.”

Pepper falls into step alongside her as the group of women cross the street to the door where the bouncer is checking their ID tags. She doesn’t ask the question Maria’s expecting – whether she’s sure she should have come out tonight. Instead she asks, “So, should I expect the Fire Breather treatment again?”

Maria laughs. “That was years ago!”

“You’d be amazed at how long I can hold a grudge.” Pepper grins as Maria nudges her.

“All of five minutes?”

“Oh, slightly longer, maybe. For the right reason.”

* * *

It’s not really a bar or a club like in the US. There’s a live band, but they’re mostly playing covers, and a few people are dancing, but it’s not a heavy beat to lose oneself in, more an ‘I like this song and I feel like dancing’. Over in the corner, a crowd cheers some game of chance, or possibly someone hacking away at an ancient pinball machine. Up along the back wall, screens are tuned to show whatever sport is presently playing somewhere in the world that isn’t fighting _kaiju_.

There’s a comfortable feel to it. Casual, with a bit of rough and tumble, but mostly pretty polite because this is Hong Kong.

“Owned by a couple of Aussies,” Maria says as they shuffle into the queue for drinks. “They can get you anything so long as you have the money and don’t care about the provenance. And I mean _anything_.”

Pepper believes it. She’s heard the stories about the Australian scroungers, both from Tony and Rhodey, and in the stories told by her people at the various Shatterdomes. And the bar has what she thinks of as a peculiarly Australian feel – not the manufactured Americanised ‘Outback Steakhouse’ vibe, but what she’s heard described as a ‘local watering hole’ – a place where people come to drink and mingle, from the more classily-dressed types to the Shatterdome personnel in their coveralls.

They order drinks, and Pepper puts it on her company card, arguing Maria out of paying. “I’m running a tab,” she says. “Don’t argue with me.”

“Don’t complain when the girls drink it dry then,” Maria replies as they weave through the growing crowds.

She sidesteps someone who’s just stopped right in front of her, and Pepper neatly follows suit. At the entryway, there’s a sudden influx of people into the bar, crowding the corridor, and their route to the table is becoming congested. Then there’s a wave of noise and cheering, and two figures stride in the door – a couple of pilots that Pepper vaguely recognises but can’t pinpoint—

“We’re here! Where’s the beer? Let the party begin!”

Something about their voices grates on her – too loud, too boisterous, too arrogantly sure of themselves. The last place that Pepper wants to be is caught up in their wake. She cuts across the edge of the space around the pilots, Maria following close behind her, then stops when—

Well, she’s not sure why she stops. She thinks there’s a hand on her shoulder, gripping her too hard, but when she turns and tries to break the grip there’s no-one there. Further along, though, Maria is just pulling away from the hand of the man who caught her unawares and is talking angrily at her.

“—not my problem.”

“If you hadn’t been such a tight-ass, putting him on notice—”

“Then the PPDC would have taken him off for investigation anyway, pending the determination on his PR gaffe. You know? The one where he spouts off racist shit and someone recorded it?”

“He’s the best crew chief we’ve had—”

“Then I suggest you tell that to the court-martial board of the PPDC, and let them decide it. It’s out of my hands.” Maria steps away, even as another wave of people crowd in the door and conveniently separate her from the angry pilots.

Pepper indicates that the other woman should go first, then follows her through the crowd. “The fight on Sunday morning?”

“Yeah, Rumlow and Rollins are angry that their crew chief is under review – and I’m apparently to blame for it.”

Behind them, the noise level is rising, and as they reach the table and set their drink trays down, it soars to a fierce cheer.

“God, tell me that they’re not boosting the crowd,” Maria mutters as she doles out drinks.

Looking at the other women, though, Pepper sees the suddenly tight expressions and the looks being cast Maria’s way, and she can already guess what she’ll see when she turns.

Wilson is saying something to Steve, the saturnine face easy and smiling as Steve replies, looking around to take the tenor of the room. He sees Pepper and his expression changes, like a dog that’s caught an intriguing scent. His gaze immediately searches out Maria, and the intensity that sharpens his eyes burns something in Pepper’s chest; an anger that oozes, coil upon coil, as he stares at Maria with a longing he has no right to feel after what he did to her.

Before Pepper can warn Maria, the other woman freezes. Unerringly, she turns, and her gaze meets Steve's.

They stare at each other for a long moment. Then her chin lifts, her shoulders go back, her mouth pinches, and she turns back to the table with a cool deliberation.

Wilson grips Steve shoulder, speaking in his ear, and after a moment Steve nods and follows his co-pilot – although not without a last glance back at Maria.

His gaze slides off her back and clashes with Pepper’s.

After a moment, she looks away as deliberately as Maria did.

* * *

It wasn’t supposed to be a big night out – just a few drinks and some socialising.

At least, that was the impression Pepper got.

The presence of Steve and Wilson in the bar changes that. Not just for Maria, but for the Shatterdome women, who rally around her, buying drinks, determinedly cheerful. The conversation devolves into politics – the politics of the Shatterdome, the politics of the war, the politics of Hong Kong and the Boneslums they passed.

Maria drinks rather more than Pepper remembered her drinking the last time they were out with the women, but she stays in the conversation, and apart from a certain swiftness of speech, Pepper would never imagine how much she’s drunk. Her gaze never strays to where either set of Jaeger pilots are holding court, and the other women seem just as determined to ignore the pilots and their hangers-on.

There’s a table of businessmen nearby, their accents marking them out from Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. Several of them gather their courage up to amble over and ask the women if they want to dance. Alison goes, laughing and comfortable. After some negotiation, so do Jess, Isabelle, and Sudhita.

“How about you?” The last guy left looks directly at Maria, and smiles, charming and easy, but also with a calculated savvy. “I bet you don’t let your hair down enough.”

“You’d be right about that.” Maria tosses back the last of her drink and slides out of the booth. “Okay, let’s go.”

And taking his hand, she heads out to the dance floor with him.

Diz blows out a long breath. “Well, I guess that’s one way to get back on the horse.” Seeing Pepper’s look, she explains, “Maria doesn’t usually pick up. She’s got a reputation – both a professional one and a personal one, particularly after Steve. Well, I guess you’d know how it goes.”

Oh yes, Pepper knows.

Pepper thinks of Stark Industries and the news storm that followed Tony handing the company over to her after he started piloting _Steel Patriot_. Because Obi had fought with Tony over the involvement with the PPDC, and the directors were living in glass towers, and Tony had seen what she was capable of doing – the whole world had seen it as she did her job in the reflected limelight of his notoriety – but none of that counted because she was a woman and Tony was in love with her.

At least Pepper had the upper hand in negotiations with the board of directors.

She’d seen how hard it was for Maria while she and Steve were dating, reading between the lines of Maria’s emails and texts, watching the news bytes and glancing at the gossip columns. She witnessed how hard it was for her after the breakup. And in the last couple of days, she’s come to realise just how few people Maria confides in generally, and most especially when it comes to personal stuff.

As Rhodey said the night that it all came apart, Maria needed a friend and Pepper was there.

So now, watching Maria dancing hip to hip with a guy who might just be up for a good time and nothing more, Pepper is relieved she’s getting the chance to cut loose.

Relieved, and maybe a little bit satisfied when she surveys the room and finds Steve watching Maria with surreptitious eyes, even as his co-pilot drinks and chats up the bar.

She has to congratulate Mister Calculated and Savvy on just how far to push his luck. The man finagles a kiss from Maria – enough heat to have her leaning into it, and gives her what looks like a business card. It seems he's not down for a quick lay – or else, he's willing to play a long game.

Maria saunters back to the table without so much as a glance in the direction of either pilot group.

"Having fun?" Pepper asks, smiling.

Maria's smile turns rueful. "It's been a while since I've been out." She glances sideways at Pepper. "You'll have to come in to Hong Kong more often."

"Or you could transfer back to LA. If you're ready, that is."

Maria presses the glass of water against her cheeks and forehead, cooling herself down. Her eyes are closed and her face is blank, so it's hard to see how she really feels about it. "We'll see how things pan out this year. I can't say I'd miss typhoon season... And Fury did say this transfer was going to be temporary, and that was eighteen months ago..."

"Well, if you decide at any point to go private, Stark Industries will find a place for you."

"I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation before."

Pepper grins. "Just a casual reminder."

"Uhuh." The other women are starting to return to the table, and Maria stands. "Someone get me a Firebreather, please? Alison?"

"Can do." Alison watches her go then turns to the table with a triumphant smile. "Aaaaaand, she's back!"

The other women are jubilant, but Pepper feels an odd apprehension as they organize the drinks and when she’s asked what she wants she stands up.

"Can I get out? I...I just need to..."

"You okay, Potts?"

"I'm fine." She's fine. But something tells her that Maria is not. "Just headed to the restrooms, I'll be back soon... Get me...another Firebreather..."

Pushing her way through the crowds chattering and laughing to the tunes of the band in the corner, Pepper looks for Maria on her way but doesn’t see any sign of her at the bar. She pokes her head into the ladies bathroom, but she’s not there. Turning back, she wonders for a moment if Maria just left without telling her, but instinct leads her on past the restrooms, just as it did that night in Sydney when she found Maria out in the headland memorial garden.

"...knows that you were just convenient for Steve. Like he'd notice you when there was any number of women throwing themselves at him!"

The voice is low and casually amused, an ugly undertone to the taunt that sets Pepper’s back up.

"You really think Lewis was the first time he cheated on you?"

There’s a storage alcove up the end of the corridor, with a curtain hung over it to partition it off. They loom over her like pair of thugs which, from all reports Pepper's had, they are. Clever thugs, Rhodey had said once. Good in a Jaeger thugs. But still thugs.

_I don't see eye to eye with Rogers and his buddy,_ Tony had said bluntly,  _but at least they're decent at heart._

_As compared to indecent?_

"I think you two are full of shit," Maria is saying clearly and harshly, even if Pepper thinks the enunciation is rather careful.

“You can think what you want. Truth is, what he did to you was shit, but it wasn’t the first time.”

“And you’re bringing this to me _now_?”

“We thought it polite not to let you know before this.” The shorter one smiles behind his trimmed beard while the taller one smirks.

Maria looks bored, but Pepper senses that beneath the bored is revulsion and a quiet panicked fear.

It's a fear that Pepper lives with, too – that she hasn't been good enough, sweet enough, nice enough; that people are just faking it, that she's not really worthy of the time and attention that is given to her, instead of it being her due.

Doubt is hell; Pepper's learned to ignore her own – and she can, after all, she's the CEO of Stark Industries, one of the most financially and therefore politically powerful people in the world, male _or_ female. Yes, the boys' club can shut her out, but Tony gave her the company, it's in her name, run to her specifications, and if she's a bitch, well, so is the stock price – and it's been slowly going up for the last five years.

Maria hasn't the same certainty, hasn't the same set of metrics to prove her competence. And when was the last time someone praised her work, instead of tearing her down?

Pepper's heard the Shatterdome gossip, the comments bandied about by the vocal and vicious.

The tall one is saying something too soft for Pepper to hear, but she doesn't want to hear any more anyway. She needs to get Maria out of there, and she needs to do it _now_. So she pushes open the curtains and steps in, breaking up the bullying with her presence.

"Hey," she addresses Maria, not even bothering to speak to the other two. "I've been looking for you. Next round's up – Alison's paying."

The flash of relief in Maria's eyes is swiftly covered over. "Alison's paying? And she hasn't yet lost a bet?" The tone is as light and casual as if they'd just been discussing the weather, and she starts to step past the two pilots. The taller of the two – Rollins, Pepper recalls – starts to move in front of her, blocking her way, but she shoves past him, and the other shakes his head ever so slightly, negating any follow up.

Pepper doesn't even look at them. They're beneath her notice right now, and all her attention is focused on Maria as she walks out, her head high. But as she starts down the corridor, she gropes for Pepper's hand.

"You okay?" Pepper hisses, lacing her fingers in with Maria's. "God, your fingers are like ice!"

"I just want out of here." The words are tight and tense as her grip on Pepper's hand. "Please."

Pepper nods, understanding.

They're nearly back out at the main room when Steve steps into the corridor, so close that they have to step aside to avoid crashing into him. His gaze fixes on Maria, and Pepper glimpses the moment he grasps opportunity with both hands.

"Maria—can we—? We need to talk—"

The nausea that rips through Pepper is disorienting. She steps in front of Maria, blocking Steve's way. "Go away, Steve. You've done enough; don't make it worse!"

His eyes narrow. "Ms. Potts, this is between me and Maria—"

"Go away, Steve." Maria's voice cracks on his name. "I don't want to talk to you."

She pushes past him, dragging Pepper with her. They're making a beeline for the door , and Pepper has a moment to catch Diz's eye before they're heading out into the humid Hong Kong night. Maria stands on the pavement staring out at the crowds, her shoulders heaving as she sucks in air like she's just run a marathon.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asks. "Can I get you anything?"

"No," Maria begins, "I don't—"

Pepper has enough of an inkling of what's about to happen that she gets her arm around Maria before the other woman stumbles over to the gutter. As Maria retches, she lifts the long, dark swing of hair out the way so the other woman can be as thoroughly sick as she needs to be, and leans into her to provide a steady shoulder. She's wept herself sick before in a moment of lowness. She knows what it is when your emotional state kicks your physical responses into overdrive.

"I'm sorry," Maria mumbles as she wipes her mouth. "I couldn't—"

"No apology needed." Pepper tucks a strand of hair behind Maria's ear. "I think we'd better get back to the Shatterdome." She glances around at the security guard. "Where do we get a transport back to the Shatterdome, please?"

She's fully prepared to throw her weight around as the CEO of Stark Industries if necessary, but the mention of the Shatterdome and a quick glance at Maria has the man giving her a nod. "There's a shuttle back to the 'Dome coming by in a few. She can go back on that."

He indicates the shuttle stop, and Pepper pauses, wondering if she needs to let the others know. A moment later, Diz emerges from the bar as though summoned.

"How is she?"

"I'm fine." Maria stands up and takes a deep breath. "Just something disagreed with me."

"Something by the names of Brock Rumlow and Jack Rollins," Pepper says sharply, more for Diz's sake than Maria's.

"Fuckers," is Diz's pithy – and, in Pepper’s opinion, entirely accurate – adjective. She eyes Maria. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just drank too much and threw it all back up again?" Maria spits into the gutter. "I want to go back in and give them the finger..."

"Maria, no.”

Maria gives her a look. " _But..._ I think I've reached the end of my rope."

"Good. We'll head back then." Reliieved that Maria isn't going to make this difficult, Pepper looks over at Diz. "Let the others know – oh, and pick up my card from the bar when you come back at the end of the night."

"You sure you want to do that? Okay, it's your company's funeral." Diz gives Maria a quick hug. "Text us when you're back safe, okay?"

As they turn to go down towards the bus stop, Pepper hears Diz addressing someone and glances back.

Steve has come out looking for them, his gaze following after Maria while Diz gets in his way, talking sharply. Maria doesn't look around, and Pepper turns away. Maria has nothing to say to him, and while Pepper has too much, she's not going to say it here in public. So she just continues on without looking back.

They walk slowly down to the shuttle stop, arriving just as the shuttle pulls up, empty. They take their seats, check in with the driver, and the shuttle rumbles off, the engine revving loudly in the small and somewhat echoing space.

Pepper has a moment of _deja vu_ ; like they've been here before, sitting side by side in a noisy compartment...

Then she remembers the helicopter flight from the ju-head camp back to the Sydney Shatterdome, huddling up against Maria, who didn't hold to her professional composure, but gave her the comfort she needed then.

A glance over at Maria shows the other woman with her hands gripped together in her lap, her lips pressed together, and her eyes glimmering with tears.

"Oh," Pepper puts an arm around Maria and leans in, offering comfort. And Maria takes her up on it, leans in and shakes with the sobs that she can't show anyone else in her line of work. She can feel the emotional toll that the slaps and taunts took, the lingering feeling of dirtiness left by the pilots of _Snarl_ – like they stained her with their casual cruelty. She knows the price of being seen as a powerful woman – to only ever be strong, always in control of her emotions, always one bit better than the guys. And how fragile it can be when torn down by a couple of assholes.

The driver glances up at them in the rearview mirror every now and then, but this shuttle run is blessedly quiet – too early on a Friday night for people to be heading back. So they're uninterrupted for the three quarters of an hour it takes for them to trundle back through Hong Kong to the Shatterdome looking out over the southwest bay.

By the time they're back at the service entry to the Shatterdome, Maria's half-asleep, presenting Pepper with the conundrum of how to get her out and up to her quarters. Yes, she's developed some muscle mass since her imprisonment with the ju-heads, but she's pretty sure she's still not up to carrying an unconscious woman through the Shatterdome.

"Maria? Come on—"

Pepper looks up as the van door is pulled open. She blinks at the silhouetted outline of Steve Rogers – what's he doing back already?

"I can carry her."

"If she'll let you," Pepper says, climbing out and giving him access because it's the only help that's available right now.

But Maria only half-rouses, exhaustion and alcohol having wiped her out. "Steve?"

"Yeah. I've got you." The tenderness in his voice as he lifts her makes Pepper's fists clench. Why should Rogers be allowed to behave like his actions have no consequences?

She thanks the driver, then trails Steve into the lift, pressing the button for Maria's living quarters. She doesn't address Steve, petty as it might seem, because she's not sure she'd have anything to say that wasn't flat-out rude. As it is, she's struggling to relax her hands from fists.

Steve glances at her, almost warily. Pepper gives him her best ' _I'm polite because I need to be, but I'd throw you off a rooftop if I thought I could get away with it_ ' look. It works with board directors and company execs. Unfortunately, Steve Rogers didn't manage to pilot a Jaeger solo through to the end of a fight by being a pushover.

"Should I ask what I've done?"

Where does she even start? "Even Tony never cheated on me."

Color stains his cheeks, washes over his nape inside the jacket collar. He half-turns, prepared to defend himself, then meets her eyes and presses his lips together.

She’s a little surprised at his restraint; Steve doesn’t seem to type to back down from a fight.

They ride up to the living quarters level in silence, and Pepper strides out ahead of Steve so she can open the door. It's not a large room – none of them are – but it has its own bathroom, and a small desk space. And, according to Maria, this is one of the better individual rooms. A whole lot of the shift workers live in four-person dormspaces that aren't much larger than this, taking their meals in the mess hall and their rec time in one of the rec lounges.

Steve eases Maria down onto the bed, hesitating over her jacket before reaching for her boots.

"I can do that," Pepper says before he can start undressing Maria. "Thanks for your assistance."

The dismissal seems to fire something in him, for his head lifts and the frustration on his face is like a burning flame. "Look, I get that you don't like me—"

A soft buzzing sound hums through the air – followed a few seconds later by the ring of a phone. Pepper steps in beside Steve, following the sound, and pulls Maria's phone from her jacket before it can wake her up. The photo and name of the caller is already up on the screen – Rhodey, calling from LA.

She answers it without thinking.

"Hi Rhodey."

There's a moment's surprised silence. "Pepper? Did I call the right number?"

"Yes, but Maria's asleep." Or on the verge of it. Steve has started unlacing her boots, and she doesn't shift as he eases the first boot off her foot. Pepper steps across the room to the bathroom entranace and lowers her voice. "She's pretty wrecked right now, Rhodey. We went out earlier."

"But you're not out now?"

"We had enough, came back to the Shatterdome."

"Ah, yes. I heard it's been a rough week in Hong Kong – what with the Phoenix repairs and that business with the crew chief."

"Among other things." Pepper eyes Steve as he tucks the boots under the bed. "Look, Rhodey, I can let Maria know you called..."

"No need," he assures her. "I'll just drop her a text and she'll answer when she's got time."

Pepper abruptly recalls a number of times when she's gone to see Tony and found Rhodey on his phone. "A text? Or a sext?"

On the other side of the room, Steve jerks up and turns to look at her.

"A gentleman never tells," is Rhodey's pronouncement.

"Yes, but you don't have to when Tony's been making comments about long distance relationships all this week." Pepper bites back a smile. She likes Rhodey – apart from being a stabilising influence on Tony, he's just a good man. And if he's taking an interest in Maria...

Of course, Maria's not obligated to like him back, but still...

"You can tell Maria I called if you like, but I'll text her anyway."

"I think that's probably best." Pepper smiles. "I'll see you when I get back to LA, right?"

"Yes. See if you can drag Maria back with you – she could do with a break."

"I'll do my best to persuade her, so long as you do _your_ best to persuade her."

"Deal."

"I'll see you next week, Rhodey. Bye!" Pepper ends the call and looks pointedly at the man who hasn't moved from Maria's bedside yet. When he doesn't move, she steps past him to plug the phone into the overhead charger, ready for Maria when she wakes up tomorrow.

"How long have she and Colonel Rhodes been seeing each other?"

His voice is low, almost hushed. In deference to Maria's state or because he's shaken by the idea that anyone could want her after he left her humiliated? Either way, Maria's relationship state is no longer his concern.

"You don't have the right to the answer," she tells him with all the coolness she can muster.

He goes very still for a moment, then nods and goes to the door.

Pepper is just turning to go get a glass when she hears Maria murmur, "Rhodey called?"

She turns back as the door snicks shut. Maria's lifted a hand to shade her eyes, and while she's still pale, she looks more tired than sick now. "He said he'll call you back tomorrow. How are you feeling?"

"Like I had a big crying jag and made a fool of myself."

"Yes to the first, no to the second." Pepper gets the glass of water from the bathroom sink. "Drink this before you go back to sleep."

"Yes, mom." Maria sits up enough to drink it all, then sets the glass on the ledge above the bed. "Thanks for coming back with me."

"What else are friends for?" Pepper tells her and takes Maria's hand to squeeze it lightly, glad when Maria squeezes lightly back.


End file.
